"Interview PM": I 1st met Kelly Stiles & April Gilmore when they were living in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s.  It might've been at a screening at the late lamented Project 1877 on October 14, 2003, that I 1st saw one of their movies.  I found it to have a gentle absurdist humor that I could deeply identify with.  By November of 2003 they had moved away but they returned around Thanksgiving time for a week or so & a group of us got together to make a collaborative movie called "Dead & Breakfast" (made slightly before th Hollywood movie of the same name).  This group included Morgan Cahn & Matthu Stull & others.  Everyone acted, some of us did camera, some of us contributed to the storyline, some of us edited, etc.  It was very much an egalitarian group effort.  We cranked it out in a week or so.  It was fun.  

April & Kelly probably came back through around Thanksgiving time again in 2004 & another collective movie was proposed.  I bowed out of that one.  The usual crew of Morgan, Matthu, Kelly, & April & probably others made a new slightly longer movie called "Cakes of Light".  I saw it & liked it & decided that I'd participate in the next one.  "Discontinuous Universe" was probably shot in 2006.  That was our 1st 'feature' (just barely qualifying at slightly over an hour).  "START" (2007) was our next big production, the most ambitious one yet ending up at 1:16:19.  I loved that one.  I more or less dropped out after that.  I think the crew made one more short that might've never been finished.  In 2011, I made a cameo appearance in "Previously on The Stratokovski Frame".  That probably didn't get finished either.  In the meantime, I'd provisionally given our group a name: Sylli-G.  The name cross-breeds syllogisms with silly.  Sylli-G faded out.  Morgan moved away, I think Matthu was in Sweden for awhile, maybe Kelly & April weren't coming back as often, I was very busy otherwise.  

ANYWAY, in May, 2023, Kelly was visiting April, now living back in Pittsburgh again, & he contacted me wanting to know if I'd like to be in an interview project in which answers would be given as facial expressions 1st & then words 2nd that would express something different from the initial expression.  It seemed like an easy afternoon project so I agreed.  They came to my place bringing local comedian Zivan Vasquez along & we shot some footage.  I was delighted.  I was reminded of how FUNNY I find these friends to be.  Then April & Kelly went to visit Matthu out in the country & shot more with him.  Kelly also contacted Morgan on the West Coast & asked her to contribute.  It was practically a full Sylli-G revival.  I agreed to edit the result because I'm the one likely to actually get it done.  All in all, it went pretty smoothly & I'm very pleased with the results.  Sometimes, I feel like my love of the absurd isn't shared with many people I know - but once I was reunited with Sylli-G I felt alone no more!  

- June 2, 2023E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE  

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